Attleboro, Massachusetts based Sensata Technologies, a sensors and controls company with approximately $797 Million in revenues, is preparing a $500 Million IPO, to be underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, and Goldman Sachs. The NYSE stock symbol for the company has not been disclosed as of yet.

The MIT Venture Capital & Private Equity Club presents the 12th annual MIT Venture Capital Conference. From the conference website: “Against the background of a quickly changing economic environment, the 2009 conference will illuminate the critical trends and opportunities available in this ‘Brave New World.’ How have dramatic shifts in the political and financial worlds changed the venture capital and entrepreneurial landscape? If this is the time to start or fund a venture, where are the best opportunities in healthcare, energy, digital media, internet and mobile? How are venture capital funds adapting given the challenges in exit markets and LP relationships? Can the VC model work in emerging and social markets?” Keynote speakers include Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and Greycroft managing director Alan Patricof. Full agenda and registration information here.

Gilbane Group, the Cambridge, MA-based analyst and consulting firm focused on enterprise content management challenges, will hold its sixth annual conference in Boston, December 1-3. The conference will cover everything from Microsoft Sharepoint to XBRL, and from mobile search to Google Wave.

Complete conference program and registration info is at www.gilbaneboston.com. It is possible to save $200 on the conference registration fee by using the discount code: Xconomy.

This is a Stereo MP3 audio transcription of the excellent presentation that was given this morning by Ronald Croen, Founder, former CEO and Chairman of Nuance Communications, who is now Tufts University’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence for 2009-2010. The talk was given at IBM’s Waltham Innovation Center, in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Ronald Croen, a co-founder of Nuance, has served as Chairman of the Board of Nuance Communications. Croen held the positions of President and CEO of Nuance from July 1994 – March 2003. Previously, he served as a consultant to SRI International, an independent research, technology development and consulting organization, for the commercialization of its speech recognition capability. From 1987 to 1989, Croen served as Managing Director of European Operations, and from 1983 to 1987 as Vice President and General Counsel of The Ultimate Corp. Croen holds a J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Tufts University.

(This mp3 Stereo Audio Recording is a large file, and you may want to save it directly to your computer’s hard disk drive for listening – you can do so by right-clicking on the filename, above, and using the ‘save link as…’ option)

I had a wonderful opportunity to meet and speak with Bobbie Carlton, the founder of Massachusetts Innovation Nights at the Charles River Museum of Industry in Waltham, and I want to take the opportunity here to thank her for her efforts in arranging this new breakfast Massachusetts Innovation gathering. I think some thanks also go to the gracious corporate host, IBM, whose Waltham Innovation Center is truly an impressive facility; I enjoyed their tour of the facility after Mr. Croen’s presentation.

There was a terrific question-and-answer session with the attendees at the conclusion of the presentation which featured a lively debate and brought up some fascinating points; I recommend you listen to this towards the end of the mp3 audio transcription.

There are some great videos of Ron Croen’s presentation available here.

There’s limited space so sign up now. (You must RSVP by the end of the business day Thursday to be part of the group.)

There will be a chance to look around the IBM Innovation Center, and there will be a special guest speaker, Ronald Croen, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Nuance Communications, who will be speaking on Entrepreneurship and Innovation in 2009 and Beyond: Massachusetts vs. Silicon Valley.

There is a Stereo mp3 audio transcription of this presentation, as well as the excellent question-and-answers session which followed, posted on this site below:

The Video Game Orchestra will perform their production “Awakening” at Boston’s Berklee Performance Center, Saturday, December 5th, 2009.

The doors will open at 7:00pm, and the performance will begin at 7:30pm.

136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115

The Video Game Orchestra was Founded by Artistic Director and Arranger Shota Nakama, is Conducted by Musical Director Yohei Sato, and the performance on December 5th will feature Special Musical Guest Wataru Hokoyama, who created the music for video game titles “Afrika” and “Resident Evil 5”.

The Video Game Orchestra’s performance of “Awakening” on December 5th will feature music from smash hit video games Super Mario Brothers, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Silent Hill 2, Afrika, Chrono Cross, and many more!

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Polaris Venture Partners, which is based in Waltham, MA, has asked Google veteran Jon Steinberg to be an executive in residence at the venture firm, according to VentureWire. VentureWire also writes that Steinberg, former Strategic Partner Development Manager at Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), will be based in the New York City office of Polaris. Polaris also has an office in Seattle, Washington.

American Science & Engineering is a Billerica, MA -based outfit that makes X-ray systems that sniff for drugs and weapons. The Pentagon in January 2009 awarded the outfit a $39 Million contract for its rugged trailers that screen suspicious vehicles for bombs.

Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) has completed its buyout of Cambridge, MA-based BBN Technologies for about $350 million. The amount of the purchase was not disclosed when the Waltham, MA-based provider of defense systems first announced the deal in September 2009. BBN Technologies has meant much to the development of the Internet and the Boston innovation scene over the past several decades.

Marlborough, MA-based Egenera has raised $3 million in new equity financing, according to regulatory forms filed today. An executive for the company, which makes software for managing physical and virtual servers in corporate data centers, told Mass High Tech the funds came from existing investors, a group that includes Austin Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Kodiak Venture Partners, Pharos Capital Group, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Egenera raised $26 million in December 2007 and laid off 87 employees in November 2008.

Claris Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm headquartered in Cambridge, was among firms co-leading a $36-million Series A financing round for Lycera Corp., a Michigan company looking to develop small-molecule drugs to treat auto-immune diseases.

Two primary executives formerly of THQ’s now-defunct Helixe studio have formed an exciting new game company in Cambridge, oriented to the white-hot Nintendo DS platform. Helixe created the movie-themed DS games Wall-E and Ratatouille, among many others including a Star Wars-themed game, The New Droid Army, for the Nintendo GBA. Double Tap Games, headed by Kurt Bickenbach and Richard Corredera, is aiming for “new games and franchises” with a fresh approach, appearing in the second half of 2009.

The company has a developer staff with over nineteen years and 10 million units of collective experience on the Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance, having worked in such outfits as Sony Online Entertainment, Looking Glass Studios, and obviously, THQ.

Director of Business Development Richard Corredera, formerly of Sony Online Entertainment in San Diego and most recently Technical Director at Helixe, has stated that the new company is working on a few titles that have been slated for development, although no specific details or release schedules have been announced. From the company’s website:

“Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the DoubleTap team carries extensive experience in crafting online games of varying scale, as well as movie and TV licensed based games such as WALL•E, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Tak, Jimmy Neutron, Fairly Odd Parents, Scooby Doo, Star Wars, and many others, with an understanding of a licenser’s ever-changing properties.

DoubleTap Games is committed to redefining online multiplayer experiences available on the Nintendo platforms. DoubleTap is confident the online Nintendo market will continue to grow and transform, and strives to speak to its audience in an uncommon way, with uncompromising quality.”

An exciting aspect of Double Tap’s intentions in the marketplace appears to be their emphasis on the online gameplay component of the Nintendo DS. This burgeoning new point of emphasis for Nintendo DS games, which as a platform has been relatively slow to adopt the online gameplay approach, could indeed deliver big success to the Cambridge-based Double Tap Games.

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A new social networking site for Gamers has opened in Cambridge. The site is called GamerDNA.com, and they are funded by Flybridge Capital Partners of Boston. From the site’s ‘About’ page:

“gamerDNA is the place to build and express your unique gamer identity. We want to help you discover, extend and better enjoy games from wherever you play online.
At the core of our company is the gamerDNA Discovery Engine, powered by a database of gameplay patterns and passionate feedback from gamers like you. By applying the collective intelligence of our community, we’re able to understand why you play the games you do, so:

* You can uncover new games you’ll enjoy
* Game developers can design better games with the features you’ll want
* You gain a powerful new voice in the world of games

Getting started is easy… Just let us know where you play (Console, PC, Mobile) and well automatically update your achievements, scores, characters, etc. and transport your gamerDNA anywhere you want to go on the Internet, including popular social media sites like Twitter.
Beyond social media sites, gamerDNA is also working with popular fansites, blogs and gaming communities to make gamerDNA a part of your experience elsewhere on the Web. Our Alliance Network of over 4 million gamers includes some of the largest gaming communities around the world including, WoWJutsu.com, ElitistJerks.com and MapleTip.com.

Our mantra is to know gamers better than any company in the world so we listen carefully to what you have to say about games and are constantly striving to learn what you love about them.”

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A123Systems, a lithium-ion battery company that just Monday said it had raised $69 million in its latest financing round, said yesterday that it has secured more than $100 million in refundable tax credits from the state of Michigan.

Watertown-based A123Systems added that it has selected Livonia, Mich., as the location for one of the new production plants it is planning.

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About...

PMO Director. These are my personal thoughts about software development, technology and related topics that interest me. In general, you will find a bias towards project management related issues and lots of talk about interacting with stakeholders or programmers. I try to present a technical view from a user's perspective. The views presented here on my professional and personal blog represent my own views and experiences and not those of my employer.